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Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:8–10).
Devotional
In Christ, the God who is a "consuming fire" shows himself to be a God of love and of peace. He is a reconciled God.
God in Christ holds out his hand to poor sinners all the day long. He receives all. He welcomes all. He rejects none. He refuses none. He casts out none.
It is his glory to pardon a sinner. It is the glory of his power to take the prey from the mighty. It is the glory of his wisdom to deliver the lawful captive. It is the glory of his love to pluck the brand from the burning. It is the glory of his grace to lower the golden chain of his mercy to the greatest depth of human wretchedness and guilt and to lift the needy and place him among the princes.
Behold Jesus upon that cross! Every pang that he endures proclaims that God is love. Every stroke that he receives proclaims that God is love. Every groan that he utters proclaims that God is love. Every drop of blood that he sheds proclaims that God is love. Each cries out that he stands pledged and ready to pardon the vilest of the vile. Justice, sheathing its sword, and retiring satisfied from the scene, leaves Mercy gloriously triumphant. And "God delights in mercy" (Mic. 7:18).
Since God has opened a channel at such an infinite cost—even through the smitten heart of his beloved Son—through which his mercy may flow boundless and free, venture near, nothing doubting. No feature of your case is discouraging, or can possibly arrest the pardon. Your age, your protracted rebellion against God, your long life of indifference to the concerns of your soul, the baseness and number of your sins, your lack of deep convictions or of stronger faith, nor worth or worthiness to recommend you to his favor—none of these are true impediments to your approach. None of these are pleas why you should not draw near and touch the outstretched scepter, bathe in the open fountain, put on the spotless robe, welcome the gracious pardon, and press it with gratitude and transport to your adoring heart.
In the light of this truth, cultivate loving and kindly views of God. Ever view him in and through Jesus. Ever approach him in and through Jesus. Ever transact your soul's affairs with him in and through Jesus. "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5).
God your Father may now be leading you through deep and dark waters. His voice may sound rough to you. Perhaps his dim outline is all that you can see of him. His face seems veiled and averted. Yet deal with him now in Christ, and all your hard thoughts, trembling fears, and unbelieving doubts will vanish. In Jesus, every perfection of God dissolves into grace and love. With your eye upon the cross, and looking at God through that cross, all the dark letters of his providence will in a moment become radiant with light and glory. That God, who has so revealed himself in Jesus, must be love, all love, and nothing but love, even in the most dark, painful, and afflictive dealings with his beloved people!
Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near with his cheer;
never will he leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
that God's Son for my own
to my faith hath given?
God oft gives me days of gladness.
Shall I grieve if he give
seasons, too, of sadness?
God is good and tempers ever
all my ill, and he will
wholly leave me never.
Death cannot destroy for ever;
from our fears, cares, and tears
it will us deliver.
It will close life's mournful story,
make a way that we may
enter heav'nly glory.
Lord, my Shepherd, take me to thee.
Thou art mine; I was thine,
even ere I knew thee.
I am thine, for thou hast bought me;
lost I stood, but thy blood
free salvation brought me.
Thou art mine; I love and own thee.
Light of Joy, ne'er shall I
from my heart dethrone thee.
Savior, let me soon behold thee
face to face,—may thy grace
evermore enfold me!
(Paul Gerhardt, 1523, cento; tr. composite, based on John Kelly, 1867)
Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.
Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.
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